They say video killed the radio star, but in reality it was podcasting that did the deed. Podcasting first emerged in 2004 from the invention of the MP3 player, a portable device that allowed digitized audio to be played. Now that it’s been over twenty years since its invention, it has taken the world by storm. Podcasts have developed huge followings in the hundreds of millions. Acting as a platform for the spread of political opinion, stories, news, straight up fun, and a myriad of other themes and genres. Even students like you are starting their own productions as a way to express their authentic student voice. Although it seems daunting, starting up a podcast is simpler than one thinks it is.
You still might be asking yourself: Why should I go into podcasting? Podcasting is popular for a multitude of reasons. Firstly, podcasting allows students like you to have an outlet for their authentic voice as youth; which for those of us who are nor musically nor artistically inclined, can be quite powerful. Also, podcasting can help you build your creative, communicational, interviewing, and editing skills. Not to mention how easily sharable podcasting is or how it can traverse virtually any genre.
The most important component of a podcast is the premise. Or, in other words, what the podcast is about. And as mentioned before, it can be a plethora of things. Just be sure to choose something you are interested in, you wouldn’t want to dedicate dozens of episodes to something you didn’t care about. Make the podcast meaningful to you. You can choose to discuss current events, fashion, music, or even just talk with friends. And, if you think about it, podcasts with simple, doable premises can actually do really well like A Good Hang or the Joe Rogan Experience. Both of which are just people talking to one another about their opinions or experiences. But, that doesn’t mean you can’t go in the opposite direction as well! Well researched, carefully orchestrated, and multifaceted podcasts like The Daily or This American Life also are stellar examples of how to do intricacy well. Whatever you go with, don’t overthink it! It can be easy to spend time dwelling on concepts and themes, remember that you can change the podcast whenever you like as it evolves over time.
One virtually universal aspect of the modern podcast is its opening theme and outro. Which can seem simple at first, but it’s important to remember copyright law here. Using any sort of music in your podcast by any particular music artist on Spotify, TikTok, or wherever you get your music is generally not considered fair use. So, it’s important to source it elsewhere. If you’re in a time crunch you can get music on places like the Youtube Audio Library, Bensound, or Audionautix for free. If you can take the time however, you should try making your own music, with sites like the Figure app, Chrome Music Lab, and Soundtrap as good options for free, simple music making options.
Aside from having an intro and an outro, it’s important to have stuff in between that. Some podcast lengths can be appalling with hour plus long episodes, but your podcasting journey is just starting out and many podcasts are only around ten to twenty minutes in length. Which is what I would personally recommend for those just starting out. But, what to fill that with? Of course the nature of your podcast relies heavily on the premise of the podcast, but you can use devices like recurring segments to keep audiences engaged and anticipative across various episodes. It also allows for a sense of consistency in your show.
Along with a premise comes a name, which is almost as important as the premise as it is what your audience first sees when browsing for podcasts to listen to or hearing of it. The most important aspect of a name (generally) is that it’s original. When you’re just starting out, you want to have your podcast be able to be searched across any podcasting streaming service and have it pop up at the top of one’s search. One can somewhat manipulate this to one’s advantage if there is a podcast name shared across many shows to increase audience count by having listeners accidentally click on your podcast; but you’d have to be pretty desperate to do that.
Another important aspect of a podcast’s individuality is its cover art. There are many ways you could go about selecting this, of course you could always design it yourself either on paper or digitally if you are artistically gifted. But, you may be like me and have to depend on others to draw your art. You could ask a friend or go on an artwork commissioning site like Fiverr to get art for about $5. Conceptually, you’re going to want to think as if you were designing something like an album cover with a 1:1 ratio. Keep in mind that this will likely be the most prominent image associated with your podcast, so be careful when considering what you want to represent the show with.
One of the more intimidating things about producing a podcast is the equipment one sees in video podcasting studios. With commercial microphones and soundproof rooms that can cost hundreds or thousands of dollars. But, one can still produce good quality audio with a limited budget. In fact, there are plenty of small scale podcasts that operate like this. It just goes to show that podcasting really is a medium for everyone, including you!
Microphones are perhaps the most important component of a small scale podcast’s equipment. Although higher end ones can cost hundreds, you can actually purchase some good microphones like the MXL 990 for around $50. If you have a bigger budget, you could buy some really high quality microphones like the Shure SM7B for around $500-$600 new. However, you can also tap into the used microphone market to get even better deals. But, you may have seen microphones for just a few dollars and be thinking to yourself: Why not buy those? Well, it’s generally recommended that when starting out a podcast one shouldn’t opt for microphones on the cheapest end nor the most expensive, but rather a microphone in between the two pricepoints like the MXL 990 mentioned earlier. But, if you have absolutely no budget, a relatively new phone microphone works surprisingly well. And, if you have bad audio you can always edit it in post.
If you still have some funds left over, there is still other equipment you could invest in. If you’re hoping to set up any sort of studio things like mixers will elevate your audio. Mixers can allow you to manually control all sorts of aspects of your audio to produce higher quality audio as you are recording your podcast. Again, the price disparity between the cheapest options and the most expensive is a bit extreme. On the lower end you can get mixers for as low as $50, but on the higher end costs can reach $500 or more. But, if this is your first podcast, as sure as you may be that it will be great, I wouldn’t get one of these until you are able to get things up and running. The same thing could go for the headphones required for your podcast, if you have headphones those can work; but you can also purchase some good quality ones for about $30.
Yet another thing that can seem daunting to aspiring podcasters is the complexities of editing. People tend to have a variety of opinions on this, but according to Brian Eriksen (who’s talk this article is based upon) who oversees many different student podcast productions, you should only spend a couple of minutes editing your podcast with the right software. Although this might seem counterintuitive, it actually has a variety of benefits for starting out your production. Firstly, it doesn’t make podcasting such a time intensive commitment. And not having to dedicate over an hour every week will likely keep you a little more motivated to continue the podcast. Secondly, not nitpicking over every filler word or speech error you will inevitably make allows for you to have a more organic podcast that doesn’t sound incredibly manufactured or artificial. In regards to editing software, there are actually many free softwares you can use to edit your podcast in such a short amount of time like Audacity or Adobe Podcast.
Once you’re done with editing, equipment, and recording you have to figure out a way to publish your podcast. The first thing you have to do is convert it into an MP3 file, but your podcast to be accessible to your audience in one form or another. There are a plethora of podcast hosting platforms to choose from, however, the two most popular are Apple Podcasts and Spotify. However, if you use Spotify for creators to publish your podcast it will automatically send a copy of your podcast to Apple Podcasts which can be really helpful. Perhaps the most important part of publishing is consistency, most podcasts stop after just a few episodes, so it is paramount that you continue. Usually doing it once weekly or biweekly allows for you and your audience to follow a schedule. One more place you can publish your podcast is right here on the Russ! We’re looking to expand our audio division so feel free to reach out to us about your show ideas!
